The Devil Wears Pantera
by somewhatAped
Summary: AU. Moving out away from the comforts of home, Kurosaki Ichigo found himself a job in a local company: but can he survive working under the hottest boss from hell?
1. Chapter 1

An AU inspired by Loid's Burritos and Tequilla(chap20) and Robocracy's Raven.

This is my first serial fic, so do bear with any inconsistencies.

Warning: GrimmjowxIchigo (yaoi), possible M in future chapters, mild swearing, (unintended)OOCness.

Waking up is never easy on a Monday morning--even more so when it's his first day on his job (as an office worker, none the less) for Kurosaki Ichigo. Staring languidly into the stark bareness of his ceiling, the young lad slowly sat up, idly scratching his back and stretching his limbs into wakefulness while kicking his much-too-loud alarmclock permanently silent. How ironically multitasking one can be at such hour of the day but degrade into a single-tasking machine by the end of it is beyond anybody's comprehension, much less his, he thinks to himself with little humour to rival a dead rat.

The floor felt particularly cold and harsh as his bare feet searched purposely for his fuzzy berry-printed bedroom slippers, occasionally kicking his oft-forgotten cellphone and files before they were met with the comforting warmth of his trusty slippers. He cannot help but grimace when he heard his back pop unceremoniusly as he stood up with such fervor of a log and slowly, but surely dragged his appendages across the hall to the bathroom. Wasting no time in relieving himself of his restrictive garments, which was promptly thrown aside, he stared at himself in the fogged glass, tousling his hair somewhat absent-mindedly and was well aware of the morning wood he was experiencing. Relieving himself would be the least of his problems at the moment as far as time (and the effort in cleaning up thereafter) was concerned—it'll subside sooner anyway.

The water was hot enough to ease his growing nerves, but the chilly air bit into him as soon as he stopped the water, reminding him of the reality of today. His today. Promptly grabbing a towel and drying himself, he wrapped the soft material around his hips and headed towards his wardrobe of sizable magnitude and pondered on the choice of garb he ought to present himself in. With all his masculinity of girl-killing proportions, he can be somewhat of a woman when it comes to choosing clothes—much so when it comes to first-impressions in a new working environment, something his father commented on a long time ago but was immediately silenced with a swift kick to his unmentionables. No one said a word on that matter ever since, and for that he was glad. Despite it all, he never once looked remotely off-style; neither garish nor subdued—something he took pride in, albeit unspoken, nonetheless. Momentarily pausing to observe his choice, he finally nodded to himself on his selection and purposely put on the emerald-hued shirt on; a somewhat stark contrast to the noisy, rambunctious statement of his hair and grabbed a matching pair of pants.

Breakfast, as usual was not an easy affair, for he would not settle for anything less than a perfectly golden, diagonally-cut piece of toast and coffee made to his liking: by far, only his sister and himself could make them up to his expectation, nothing less. However, considering the fact that he no longer lives with his family, breakfast has more often than not become a rarity—to which he resents. Putting the piece of bread between his lips, he stalked lazily towards the living hall of his apartment and pulled the curtains apart, basking the dim room in the golden rays of the morn. He winced a little unconciously at the sudden flare of light but plopped himself anyway on the black couch, using his legs to push the button on the answering machine. Bad habits die hard, apparently. So does laziness,for that matter.

"YOU HAVE 3 UNHEARD MESSAGES". Just great.

beep "IIIICCCHHHIIIIGOOOOO!! DADDY..." De-lete.

beep "Uh, Ichi-nii? Otou-san called a while ago, and uh, Karin's still asleep but I just want wish you all the best on your first day at work. Make sure you don't skip your lunch, okay? See you soon!" He smiled. Some things never change, no matter where he is.

beep " Yo, Renji 'ere. Ya better not be late for your job—you don't know what I had to do to even get you this

position, so ya better not get fired or I swear I'll kick your ass big-time. Seeya there."

Sipping the remaining drops of his ebony-colored beverage, he stood up, cracking his knuckles and stretching a little. It is going to be a long day. Making haste in grabbing his backpack, he opened the door of his apartment before he was reminded of his abandoned cellphone underneath his bed. He would've groaned, if he had the time to begin with, but at the moment, time is not on his side. Rushing towards his bedroom and a few trips and muttered oaths later, he found the elusive contraption nestled underneath far ends of the bed, just beyond his reach. Practicing little to no restraint in exclaiming an expletive this time, the redhead snatched a broom and unceremoniously swept the offending device out of the crevice; reaching out easily for the accursed cellphone.

Driving to his workplace, however, was relatively much more uneventful and merciful to the boy's sanity, save for the fact that he ran over a blue cat on the way, which, strangely enough, was somewhat therapeutic to his frayed nerves; cats have nine lives anyway, so he thought. He would deal with the owner later—Renji has already called more than once.

To say he was impressed with the building ahead of him would be an understatement: he was more awed than anything, to say the least. As much as, however, he wished to stare at the megalith ahead of him, reality had to zap him back to earth with the realization that he has a good, solid 8 hours of work ahead of him. In all actuality, he cannot decide if he was excited, nervous, or both—his nerves were dead somewhere between the dead cat and the missing cellphone. He silently passed the two ginger blonde (and astonishingly busty) receptionists, waving a little to them as they greeted him with cheerful fervor. Walking towards the HR department did little to ease the storm in his stomach either, as far as he is concerned. Finally stepping into the department, a gush of cool air fell awash on his tensed-up figure, and he immediately relaxed. Little time was spent admiring his surroundings, and not before long he found himself in front of the manager's office, someone he met during the interviews, and was therefore much more well-acquainted with. Relatively.

"Ah, Kurosaki-kun! Come on in! It's your first day today isn't it?" duh. "Well, we're a little understaffed at some departments for now, so for now we need you to be a PA for the manager of the advertising department, is it okay with you?"

"Yeah, guess so, Ukitake-san. Just leave the rest to me". He smiled.

"Thank you. Now, here are the files—pass them on to your manager, of course, and uh, well the department is on the 6th floor so you can get going now. Oh, and hope you enjoy workin here"

He took the manager's hand and gave a firm handshake, immediately taking off to meet his new employer without further ado. He ran a nervous hand through his unruly hair, trying to tame the wild locks with as much success as taking over Rome with a pair of chopsticks. Taking deep strides towards his office, he finally reached his employer's office—and inhaled deeply as he placed his hand on the icy-cold doorknob. Pushing slowly, he was greeted with the sight of a manically grinning teal-haired man: and he wished he was anywhere but where he is now.

"Yo, Ichi"

By gods, this is going to be a long day indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for everyone who gave reviews! I'll reply each review when I find the time. On the other hand, I feel shitty writing this chapter—this is made of fail. I suck in dialogues, and to make things worse, I (wtf? 2nd chapter!) had some writer's block here so please pardon the drop in quality . Only for this chapter, flames are allowed. T.T

Warning: blatant advertising: do read my previous works as well—Evening Blues and Sakurairo! Cursing.

Disclaimer: don't own Bleach, any semblance to any past fics unintended unless mentioned otherwise.

--

What could possibly be worse than having a maniac for a boss would be having a manical ex-boyfriend for a boss, at least in Kurosaki Ichigo's opinion at the moment. The man in question, on the other hand, was simply ecstatic, to say the least when he found out his very own personal assistant (or in his case, the term 'slave' would serve the occasion far better) was going to be someone who walked out on him a good year ago—something he can never bring himself to understand why (being the egoistic bastard he is). The younger youth did little but to fidget uncomfortably, and for some reason found the floor to be an intriguing sight; which, in effect only served to make the smirking teal-haired man grin wider.

A deep breath on the nape of his neck brought him back from his shock-induced oblivion rather abruptly, and the redhead turned around only to find the taller man literally in his face, blue eyes as haunting as always."So, yer my new PA, eh, _Kurosaki_?" That, knowing him, was not a question_. "_Though I must say, I was...surprised, when I saw yer name in HR. So me, being the manager and all...," he paused, as though to rub salt deeper into the proverbial wound before continuing "How should I put it...pulled some strings to get ya to work fer me." With a smugness in the exclamation, one would've thought he was giving a Grammy acceptance speech—or accepting a Grammy for that matter. The silence that ensued, for some apparent reason, gave the employer a good enough reason to cup a feel on the younger one's ass—to which was replied immediately with a hard slap on the wrist and a violent blush on the youth's face which,in any given time would rival his hair.

"Why..?" was all the youth could muster finally, to which was replied nonchalantly by the employer as though it was the most obvious thing, whilst grabbing the documents from the youth's grasp, "You left me--I wanna know why. 'Sides, I wanna fuc--"

"You know what, forget I asked. Since I'm stuck here anyway until my contract expires, guess I'll just have to bear with you for now—so if you'd excuse me, Grimm, I'm--"

"Jeagerjaques-san"

"Wha--?"

"Call me Jeagerjaques-san, ya know—so people can't tell I know ya and all and think I'm playin' favorites," the teal-haired man continued, "which--I, for your information, am" smirking devilishly.

"Pfft. Fine, _Jeagerjaques-san. _Anything else?"

"Nope. I'll call you if I need 'nything. Off ya go, then." he returned to his seat, winking and turning to face his computer screen, waving the redhead off.

Ichigo did little but to sigh and headed immediately for the door, wishing no longer to remain in the same room as the boss of his nightmares. Exactly two seconds after he left, said nightmare shouted "Oi, _Kurosaki_! Get me some coffee, will ya?". Figures. The boy immediately headed to the pantry, greeting a few co-workers on the way who offered sympathetic smiles, knowing who his boss is. What struck him about the pantry was the size of it, aside from the sight of Renji wolfing down what seemed like a huge doughnut, to which he choked excitedly on when he saw the berry enter . It took a good few minutes to help him dislodge the pastry from his mouth, but he immediately started talking the moment Ichigo did so; a stray thought of shoving the pastry back down the tattooed's throat brushed aside as Renji asked, "So how's your first day?"

Finally having the opportunity to talk, he replied, "I'd say okay, but for starters..."

Grimmjow tapped absentmindedly on the worn keyboard before taking a deep breath, massaging his temples while he removed his glasses. The thick frame of the glasses felt strangely cold to the touch—and knowing himself better than anyone, it is probably because of meeting his ex after months of separation. While he may not be a clingy, sentimental sap, he still is far from assigning to the fact that the relationship is over—not from his point of view anyway. Leaving his seat and stretching lazily, he wondered idly for a moment if hiring Ichigo was the right thing to do. Sure, there's always a chance that the boy would leave (only because he has a madman for a boss), but he needed to set things straight with the boy. He wanted retribution—for leaving him. Maybe—just maybe, because he fired his previous PA, and Ichigo's the best-looking of the candidates, but that is besides the point. Nobody dumps Grimmjow—he does the dumping—and dump he will. With jobs. On Ichigo.

Perhaps he's just being childish or mayhap a sore loser in this war of sorts, but truth to be told, he missed the boy terribly, though he may refuse to admit it outright. Grimmjow growled slightly at the revelation and grabbed a file hastily from the foot-tall stack of gaudily shaded files threatening to topple over his desk, quickly reviewing the contents he knew was long overdue to take his mind off the problem called Kurosaki Ichigo. Grimmjow is by no means all bark and no bite—he's undoubtedly one of the best in his field, but a slavedriver nonetheless. Reviewing the whole stack of files in an instant, he chucked half of them into the thrashcan, deeming them rubbish. Is it too much to ask for a decent proposal? Mediocrity, for some reason, gives him a headache. Putting on his glasses, he turned to the flickering monitor before glancing at his silver wristwatch. Seriously, now. 15 minutes for a goddamn cup of friggin' instant coffee?

"You mean he's your b-boyfriend?", the pineapple asked.

"WAS, Renji. He WAS my boyfriend. So now can you see why I'm in deep shit right now?"

"Well you're the one who begged me to get you a job! 'Sides, how should I know he's YOUR ex? Though come to think about it—yeah you ARE in deep trouble there, Kurosaki. Heard the last PA tried to kill herself—and that was only 3 months into work. He fired her in the end anyway," he muttered laughingly.

"Yeah I can see why," the berry replied, rolling his eyes. "How anyone survived so far under him is beyond me"

"I believe," a voice behind them gruffly replied, startling the both redheads before continuing "The only reason why they're still keeping their asses where they are supposed to is because when I ask them to do something—they don't take goddamn fuckin' forever to do it." Said redheads were reduced to something akin to rats trapped in the corner by a cat at the sight of a less-than-pleased Grimmjow holding an empty mug. "And," the man continued, "Correct me if I'm wrong Abarai-san, but don't you have something to do? 'Cause if you don't, tell Byakuya I CAN give you some"

"N-no, Jeagerjaques-san. Good day to you," Renji said before speeding off, but not before taking a few pieces of doughnuts with him.

"I'll get your coffee," Ichigo said, turning around but was grabbed by the arm by his boss.

"Tch, forget it. C'mere. Kinda forgot to do this" the boss, without waiting for a reply from the employee, promptly dragged the clueless boy back to the department, pushed him in front of a busy office space and shouted "Oi!". The whole area was effectively silenced and in effect caused about 10 pair of eyes to focus on them, much to Ichigo's chagrin. Without losing a beat, he drawled lazily, "This is Kurosaki Ichigo, and he's gonna work here today, yadda, yadda, yadda so you guys know the drill and all, whatever," he finished, looking somewhat bored. "I'm gonna leave you guys to do those greetings and shit, but ya better get to work ASAP," the boss continued and as an afterthought, continued "Kuchiki, Kurosaki, I wanna see you in my office after this".

As soon as Grimmjow left for his office, the atmosphere was significantly less tense, and he was introduced to workers with names that (he believes) their mother must hate them enough to give but was thoroughly disturbed with well-meaned "_I'm so sorry", "You'll get used to it"_ or _"You'll survive somehow"_s. He was, however pleasantly surprised when he saw a close college-mate of his working in the same department—Kuchiki Rukia.

The midget-sized girl was nothing short of personality, and was practically hyperventilating when she saw Ichigo.

"Ichigo! So nice to see you here! We'll catch up on lunch later, but for now, we gotta see Grimmjow, so c'mon! Oh and by the way, I'm Grimmjow's secretary!" she said with gusto.

"Wait, if he has a secretary, why on effin' earth does he need a PA?"

"Cause if he doesn't, I'll die. Seriously. Since he fired his last PA, I had to do everything. Everything, Ichigo! On top of my job! Really, Ichigo, you're a lifesaver here," she smiled weakly.

"I, uh, do what I can?"

Before they knew it, they were standing in front of the teal-haired man's office, the door looming ominously despite its size.

Suggestions, reviews, comments very much appreciated!


	3. Of Coffee and Chores

**Thank you for all the reviews cnd comments! FYI I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot! Sorry, more fillers here but I'm not gonna leave the characters hanging so I'm making sure all the bases (as far as character development is concerned) are covered. Rest assured the juicy parts will come in soon...I hope.**

**Also, I need some help, y'all. Send me some prompts, please or the next update will be much later than this one if i ever run outta ideas again. Secondly, i need a ghostwriter for smut. Yeah, you heard read it right. I CAN'T WRITE SMUT. Not yet, anyway. So if anyone's interested in helping me write one, do PM me... as for the prompts as well. This is just a request, kiddos. Ignore it if ya want.**

**#sigh# onto the story then...**

_**I dont own BLEACH**_

--

Grimmjow was grinning as his two subordinates entered—the look of worry evident on their visages only served him too well. He wordlessly gestured for them to take a seat on the couch as he took the stack of files on his desk and handed them to the raven-haired girl, saying "Take these files back to those dumbasses and tell 'em to move on to the next phase—as for the other losers," he glanced at the thrashcan to emphasise his point before continuing, "tell them to redo the goddamn proposal and hand them back to me by the end of tommorow or they can kiss their fuckin' cubicles goodbye."

"Yes, Jeagerjaques-san. I'll inform them immediately," she bowed a little before winking at Ichigo and headed towards the door in what seemed to be a rush.

"And Kuchiki?"

"Sir?"

"Once you're done, pass the ex-PA-woman's—what's her name again?-- files to our dear Kurosaki here, mmkay? And make sure he knows what to do by the end of the day."

"Will do. If that's all, I'll be off for now"

Rukia closed the door silently behind her and with that Ichigo's only means of escape from the scrutinizing, smiling look of Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. The silence that ensued only served to make the redhead more aware of his surrounding as his eyes began to wander to the stark white walls and the black furnishings which, in his opinion, is somewhat bare, marred only with the occasional splash of color from the files and folders littering the room. The teal-haired man continued to stare at the youth for a few minutes, as though contemplating what to say before finally breaking the silence.

"Let's get to work, shall we? See those files over there?" he pointed at a particularly messy (which, really, is an understatement) corner of his office and instructed, "I want all those files sorted and placed in the rack—sort them by color and content, will ya—I swear they can't be anymore of an eyesore. By the way, Kurosaki," he waved his mug. "I still need my coffee after all—so go get me some after this. And while you're at that," he said as he tossed a file haphazardly towards the lad—who was caught unaware and took the file on his face—before resuming his instruction, " Pass that file to Mayuri or Szayel in R&D three floors downstairs and grab my lunch on the way up from the cafeteria," all of which was muttered in a single breath without losing a beat—something only a certain boss can manage with a bored tone to match. Said boss then removed his glasses, chucking them aside and proceeded to type on the keyboard , oblivious to the confused and highly pissed look on the PA's face.

"Could you repeat that again?"

"Time's a-ticking, Kurosaki. Might wanna start now or God knows what else I'll think of asking you to do"

That being said, the redhead gave a frustrated sigh before slowly moving to clear the files strewn all over the area, the boss smirking discretely. The files were not exactly messed up, thankfully, but were nevertheless piled at areas not even possible by the boy's standard (behind the potted plant? You have GOT to be kidding me); with the amount of documents in the room, he could've swore half the world's paper supply were in there at the moment—he might need a wheelbarrow to haul the darned papers. Or his dead body buried underneath them an hour later. It took a good half an hour to even place them in the same general vicinity, nevemind the fact that he will have to sort them as well. Finally getting to the next task of sorting them out, it was then when Grimmjow glanced at his wristwatch rather idly and stood up, stretching a little before announcing " Gotta meeting, like, now. Don't forget my coffee and lunch, Kurosaki—I want 'em as soon as I'm out. And the files—R&D. Geddit?" and promptly walked out of the office, leaving the PA very much alone—not like he was able to appreciate the moment, anyway. Time is not on his side.

It took the poor lad another solid hour before he finally placed the final—goddamned—file into its place, pausing awhile to marvel at his magnificent handiwork of sorts—a mishmash of colors carefully arranged and placed in a much too small rack. It was also about then when he realized that the document on his boss's desk is not going to deliver itself; neither will said boss's lunch. He wasted no time rushing out of the office clutching the file, passing a smile (grimace, really, but this IS Kurosaki Ichigo) to the midget-sized secretary as he passed her. When he did finally reach the elevator, he was rather miffed at the number of workers waiting for the _effin' moving metal box_ which, loosely translated simply means squashed sardines and bazooka to his nostrils, what with body odors and the such. He doesn't have a choice anyway—even with four elevators running it WAS close to lunch time, after all.

Grimmjow was, simply put, bored shitless and pissed as hell. While he had to admit he DID handpick these people currently occupying the conference room, he refused to believe they were such magnificent morons when he first chose them. Three quarters into their presentation, after having his ears bled out by stupidity of godly proportions (Chicken costumes, handing out samples!? Must...resist...firing...), his brain simply refused to work and shut down. Suddenly, twirling the pencil and sketching his favorite characters from Bleach on the meeting table seemed much more productive than shooting down more than five-quarters of their proposals (hell, even HIS sketches are better than their storyboard illustrations. Who drew them anyway? 5-year-olds with crayons?). He took a huge gulp from his cup and stared at his watch intently. One more hour, G. Just hang on...

The journey, which took a scant 3 minutes in the elevator, felt like a lifetime for the PA. As though the task of having to keep the folder from being squashed by sweaty bodies weren't enough, there was the challenge of staying conscious while being exposed to inhuman amounts of BO and pressed flat to the walls of the elevator by a sweaty body—all for the sake of a meal and a file barely half an inch thick. He would've cried and kissed the floor then when the elevator opened at the cafeteria—hell, even snog the cleaning lady, had he the time. Placing the order for "Grimm-chan's lunch" to quote the cafeteria lady, he then paced himself quickly towards the elevators, which thankfully were less occupied that time around.

A huge explosion greeted the redhead as he arrived at the R&D department; the unmistakable smell of smoke permeating his senses and clouding his vision. It wasn't long before the smoke cleared, however, not without the water sprinklers going off and a few indiscretely uttered oaths by the PA. He did manage to make his way to the main office amidst the chaos, however and was well surprised to see it unaffacted somewhat by the pandemonium outside caused by the explosion. While he was curious about the strangely colored liquids lining the racks, he was not about to find out what they do by sticking his hands into them, lest he loses an arm or two—he needs all the help he can get working under Grimmjow, after all. So fascinated was he with the chemicals he failed to realize a slim figure stalking behind a rack and was nonetheless scared out of his wits when said figure approached him from the back to place a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Turning around to meet his assailant, he was greeted with a creepy looking man with an equally creepy looking color for a hair; he hypothesized the color might therefore be caused by overexposure to the suspicious chemicals there, not that it mattered anyway. The pink-haired freak of a fruit smiled.

"Ah, you must be Grimmjow-san's new assistant. I am Szayel Apporo Grantz, Vice-Manager of the Research and Development Department by the way. Nice meeting you." He was rather reluctant in giving his hands to the weirdo but did so anyway after figuring that he had nothing to lose but (potentially) his haircolor.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"I see, I see... So did you bring the documents we requested?" A forced smile.

"Yeah. Here you go"

"It's a little wet, neh? Nevermind...I apologize for the mild...inconvenience awhile back there. It was a slight miscalculation on our part that caused the minor explosion. Nothing to concern yourself over, however... only 6 personnels were killed this time." the grinning man announced.

"...Right. If you don't mind, Szayel-san, I have some matters to attend to so I'll be off for now"

"Alright. See you sometime soon, Kurosaki-san" the eerie smile was somehow perpetually plastered on his face.

Turning around, Ichigo decided he did not want to remain in the same room as the pink-haired man much longer and quickly walked towards the entrance, passing the still-chaotic labs until he finally reached the elevators. Relishing the fresh scent of the very much unsmoked area, he was reminded of Grimmjow's lunch; he rushed back to the cafeteria immediately just in time as the meal was ready. He was, to say the least, astonished at the amount of food Grimmjow ate for lunch—which mostly consists of meat. The cafeteria lady passed him the boss's lunch and simply told him to "remind Grimm-kun to eat his veggies", all the while flashing her saccharine-sweet smile reminiscent of a mother and promised to give the redhead extra portions as he was (to quote her again) "such a darling". Not that he was complaining about that.

Back in the meeting room, Grimmjow snapped out of his boredom-induced stupor when one of his employees finally did come up with an actually USABLE idea, and after much discussion, he did no longer feel like firing them anymore, much to the relief of the employees. Two hours of arduous effort in NOT trying to fall asleep (on Grimmjow's part) finally did pay off, and the boss quickly dismissed his workers for lunch—which they more than gladly obliged. Taking off his glasses for the millionth time for that day and massaging his temples, he wondered idly how is his PA managing at the moment. While he COULD have handled the tasks himself, he simply was too lazy to especially handle the madman in R&D—so he sent Ichigo instead.

The boss deftly gathered his files, put on his glasses and left for his office, excited for his lunch.

Kurosaki Ichigo had a scant 5 minute headstart to prepare the boss's meal—opening the cartons, preparing the utensils—before Grimmjow entered the room looking rather worn-out for someone who **was not **running around the building doing chores. The teal-haired man's face lightened up considerably—even affording a smile—when he saw Ichigo in his room. And his lunch ready.

The PA was glad he did manage to complete the task—it felt like forever for something so simple—but he was surprised when the boss's face suddenly showed a hint of disappointment, though his appetite said otherwise.

"Anything wrong, Gr..uh, Jeagerjaques-san?"

The man stared at him for awhile, sighing a little before gesturing at his still-empty mug.

"Ah, don't mind me if I accidentally drown in my soup—you see, you kinda forgot my coffee, _Ichi_."


	4. Lunch and MORE chores

I think I really outdid myself on this one. Lemme list my achievements:

-longest to update

-longest writer's block

-weirdest ideas ever

#RANTS#

read bleach #320 (or was it 318? Gah, the latest one)? if you haven't, well, go do it now! It has to be possibly the best (IMHO) chap i've read so far, excluding Grimm's release. Seriously. I almost LOLed pissed my pants at the last page of that chap.

usual disclaimers apply.

* * *

Warning: unbeta'ed so far, so there might be possible mistakes here and there. As always.

The sudden silence was rather unceremoniously broken by the unrestrained peals of laughter courtesy of the mates Ichigo was sitting with at the lunch table, much to the dismay of the lad. Never being one to be laughed at, he only barely kept his hands from upturning the lunch on said mate's heads, instead keeping silent until the peals of laughter (at his expense) subsided to choked muffles reminiscent of, well, choked kittens.

"You mean to say...after ALL that, you forgot the _coffee_?" A swift kick to the shin did more than to remind the tattooed friend how he despised it being rubbed in.

Ah, the coffee. While Grimmjow was only slightly miffed at his otherwise perfect lunch, the PA took the offense rather seriously (for reasons only God knows), berating himself for forgetting something so simple as a cup of beverage. That, and the fact that his friends are currently NOT making things any easier by laughing at his mistake. A quick apology and a steaming hot pot of coffee made to his boss's liking did remedy the situation earlier, however, and much to his relief his boss allowed him an early lunch due to his "newbie" status, to quote the teal-haired man—hence his presence at the cafeteria lunch table with Rukia and Renji. The lunch-lady did keep her promise, nevertheless; he got a significantly larger portion than his peers—the taste, on the other hand, was another matter altogether.

Rukia absentmindedly remarked about how unusually kind of Grimmjow to give such a light workload for his first task, by past experience.

By all standards, lunch on that particular day was _relatively_ uneventful (read: good)—most of them ended up with verbal sparring matches and/or a few thrown tantrums or (if he was unfortunate) food items. Being the new worker he is, he was introduced cordially to a few co-workers, one being the blonde-ish receptionist with the inhumanly huge racks he vaguely remembered greeting that morning—Orihime, if his memory served him right, was her name. She was sweet (albeit ditzy) enough, he couldn't help but feel that there must be more to her than her jugs. His head was promptly smacked for leaving his eyes a fraction of a second too long on her chest by a peeved Rukia. With her, he was introduced to a dark-skinned man easily double her height; working as the security guard—Sado, though he preferred to be called Chad. The PA, being bad with names as he was as always, was pleasantly surprised he was even able to remember their names by the end of the lunch session.

* * *

Being a Personal Assistant to Grimmjow was, in Ichigo's opinion, more physically and emotionally exerting than trying to talk Rukia out of her Chappy fetishes. Or Renji out of getting more tattooes. His point was, simply put, proven correct when he was handed the files of the previous P.A (who sadly, was mentally unstable after working under immense pressure) and was told of the daily routines of the boss named Jeagerjaques.

While he would be able to tolerate waking up at 6am to give his boss a wake-up call (think hotel receptionists) at 7 or even preparing breakfast for him ("pancakes 6 inches wide, not more than half an inch thick—syrup heated to 63'C"), it was beyond him as to why anyone would need to brush the cat's fur at 3am for exactly half an hour every Tuesday.

Rukia smiled sympathethically, obviously unsurprised by Ichigo's reaction—after all, she knew Grimmjow's ways and methods of systematically (though mostly unintentionally) eradicating all the PA's in exsistence, one by one. Pausing awhile to allow her words to sink in, she sipped her coffee slowly, reading the horrified looks of Ichigo as he flipped through the previous PA's job description. The secretary idly wondered (cruel as it may be, it is likely to happen nonetheless) how long her friend would last as a PA compared to the previous ones. As she took the last sip of her brew, she rapped on Ichigo's head with the mug to bring him back from reality, earning her the trademark deathglare.

"Oi, better get back to work now. Don't worry, I got your back"

* * *

Grimmjow just about finished his lunch when his cellphone rang, killing the peace in the office and effectively, Grimmjow's appetite. Casually flipping the device open with one hand and disposing what was left of his lunch with the other, he cursed rather audibly, ignorant of the fact that the one on the other side of the phone being able to hear him.

"This fuckin' better be important, Koufang."

"It is, Jeagerjaques. YOUR idea, too, I must remind you."

"Shut the hell up and tell me what's wrong"

"It's the..."

An hour or so later, the teal-haired manger snapped his phone shut and calmly returned to his abandoned seat. Tapping at the desk seemed like the best solution for the moment, he decided, and did just that for the next few minutes, stopping once in a while to browse for the latest porn titles online. Exactly five minutes later, he casually grabbed his coat, noting the slightly soiled cuffs of his Armani's and contemplated for a moment on replacing it with a Calvin Klein's he'd eyed before heading out of his office, grabbing his keys while doing so.

On the other hand, the newly recruited PA was struggling somewhat in trying to convince a certain restaurant to prepare a certain dish demanded by Mr.Jeagerjaques—the main ingredient was not in season and apparently had to be flown in from the other side of the world by 6pm. Aside from that, nothing so far could surprise him anymore. Stocking up on grocery for his employer was actually nothing out of the normal, but waiting almost the whole time on e-Bay to ensure the PS3 Grimmjow wants is not outbidded WHILE downloading a list of porn (using the company's computers, nonetheless) for his boss is absolutely ridiculous, not to mention embarrassing when co-workers passed by. Well, that and the fact that said boss casually grabbed him by the arm and half-dragged him down to the carpark without so much as a warning, stuffing him into the passenger's seat of his Jag thereafter. He wasn't pleased.

Keeping silent for a few moments in hopes of a decent explanation proved futile; Grimmjow never needed to explain his actions, he recalled. The curiosity, however, got the better of him and he finally asked, "Where on earth are we going,_ Jeagerjaques-san_?"

"Ah, no need to be so formal when no one's around, Ichi—though it sounds hotter," he purred.

"..."

"We're going to the site for _THE _project. Apparently, some fucktard model we hired earlier bailed out on us so YOU'RE gonna be the replacement". A slight smirk.

"W-Wait a moment! Who said anything about modelling?! DAMNIT, GRIMM! TRUST YOU TO MAKE DECISIONS WITHOUT ASKING ME—AGAIN!" the PA was franctic now.

"Oh, I didn't tell you earlier? Oh, well, since we're on our way there anyway,.."

"NO! Why, of all people, did you pick ME—it's not even in my job description!

_Good question, but a stupid one. Cause you have one helluva hot ass. Cause I'M. YOUR. BOSS._

"And," he continued, "just in case you forgot, you gave ashitload of work back there! Shit, I friggin' left my Blackberry in the office!"

"Would you please stop your bitching, Kurosaki? ITS JUST A FUCKIN' PHOTOSHOOT."

"No. Now turn back."

"Nope—I'm the boss here. **I** get to decide."

"..." The (unintentional) pouty look Grimmjow received tugged at his almost nonexistant conscience.

"Tch, fine, I'll take you out for dinner after this, okay? ON MY TAB". The pout was less visible now, but the brows are still furrowed.

"...You're a pain in the ass, Kurosaki. Fine, I'll give you a bonus IF you do this well."

"...?..."

"Shit, Ichi, you know if I don't get this job done, I'm gonna get into HUGE trouble here. And when I'm fucked, only God knows what am I gonna do to you."

"...!.."

"Oh, fuck it. ICHIGO WOULD YOU **PLEASE** FUCKIN TAKE THE GODDAMN PICTURE? THERE, I EFFIN' BEGGED YOU. NOW WOULD YOU DO THE STUPID JOB?"

"...You serious about paying for dinner and the bonus?"

"YES! Now would you do it? Budget's running low and we can't afford to get another model in such a short notice!"

"Keep your eyes on the road, retard." that was an equivalent to an agreement as far as Grimmjow was concerned.

If threatening and begging wouldn't work there's always bribing and cheating.

Ichigo sighed. The things he does for his boss—and only on the first day of the job. The day was still far from over, however.

Heheh.too short? That means you enjoyed mine! Reviews please! Yes, i'm an unshameful attention-seeker who thrive on loves and flames. Go figure.


	5. Camwhores and chores

Seriously, people. Almost 3k hits and only 50 reviews? Aww c'mon you can do better than that. Look, here's another installment. Now read and review! I mean it!

As a side note, i thought the first half and the part a little towards the end was made of fail. Tell me what u think about it and what can be improved.

Usual disclaimers n stuff apply

* * *

It didn't take long for Grimmjow to arrive, considering how reckless he was on the road—it was something he took pride in, after all, aside from being one of the toughest boss to work for. Carelessly crossing into the other lane not meant for him, he deftly turned into a vacant parking lot quite sharply, startling the PA in the process.

As he stepped out of his car, the teal-haired man took out his Ray-Bans, pausing awhile to admire his reflection on the car's windscreen for a moment. Ichigo was invariably still frozen in his seat after the show of Grimmjow's couldn't-care-less attitude on the road and had to be pried out by the boss after a minute or so. The afternoon heat was sweltering; heat shimmers can be seen in the horizon and it didn't take long for the both men to start sweating profusely even if the walk to the shooting area took barely minutes. Grimmjow was rather calm about it, however—or whatever he felt, it certainly didn't show in his eyes, which was hidden behind the pricey shades. He removed his jacket, casually throwing it over his shoulders and unbuttoned his shirt a little, exposing a fair amount of chiseled flesh glossed over with a sheen of sweat—the wet shirt hugging closely to his body did little but to make all the passing girls swoon at the sight.

Ichigo, however, was a sweaty wreck, having to both make calls for Grimmjow's future appointments and to inform Rukia to cover for him over the Playstation bid on e-Bay while keeping up with the boss's quick strides and enduring the scorching temperatures. The trademark frown was back full-force as he did so, and that did not go unnoticed by girls as well, though he did not have the leisure of time to aknowledge their admiring looks.

Once he reached the shootimg area, Grimmjow shoved him into the make-up area without much warning; much to his delight it was air-conditioned. As soon as he entered, a refreshing blast of cool air shilled his sweat-sheened skin and the chief make-up artist approached him, introducing himself (herself?) as Charlotte Coolhorn. As much as he tried to be politically correct and polite, he couldn't help but stare at the gaudily dressed (wo)man, breifly considering for a moment if he ought to refer to the make-up artist as a very femme man or a butchy woman—either way, he decided to simply refer to her as a 'she', considering her name.

Charlotte Coolhorn looks absurd by all standards (what with the frills and pompous hairdo), but Ichigo was rather pleasantly surprised that she turned out rather nice and amazingly talented; he figured looks weren't eveything after all. What surprised him further was the fact that she did, for that matter own a famous fashion line (in which he could only admire from afar) . Pleased that he made a new friend, they exchanged business cards and he was then dragged into the shooting area by a certain sweaty and pissed-looking boss.

Ichigo was not told, however, of the outfit for the photoshoot—or the lack of for that matter. Almost bailing out he was however shot deathglare by Grimmjow, which he decided was not worth messing with. As he slowly undressed, with muttered oaths under his breaths directed to a certain manager, he caught a fleeting glance of Grimmjow eyeing him with an unreadable expression, if his grim visage is anything to go by.

"_Okay, now gimme fierce! Yeah, that's right! C'mon, you hate me—ya wanna kill me! That's right! **FIERCE**!"_

Fortunately for him, the photoshoot was tastefully done; he in fact rather enjoyed the job and was told later that he was somewhat good at it for an amateur (it would be noted, however, that the first 10 frames or so were discarded due to his inability to subdue his violent blush, marring the otherwise flawless face) . While the lights and Grimmjow's commands from the side irked him a little, the end results as he saw was not too shabby—all in all, he did well, if the fact that his cellphone went off more than a couple of times (Grimmjow's schedule-planning tortured him no end) could be disregarded. The boss, however, was reliving every cliché and streotype possible of a classic diva—barking orders to get him drinks and to shade him from the scorching heat (strangely, everyone complied)—which prompted the redhead to wonder if Grimmjow himself was to be the model in the shoot to begin with. The teal-haired man's shirt was long discarded to the side, much to the apparent delight of the female (and some male) workers.

* * *

Grimmjow was ultimately pleased with the final result of the photoshoot (though he did make a point to mercilessly dissect each frame for all its worth, berating the crew for any mistakes however miniscule), much to the delight of the crew members and the still busy PA, tapping on a borrowed Blackberry. He finally did prove his worth when he helped the crew pack up, completing the job in half the time it took normally and smirking at the surprised look of the crew. The PA caught his look for a fraction of a moment, but averted his gaze to the device he held in his hands.

The journey back was strangely quiet, punctuated only by the occasional tapping of the keypad on Ichigo's cellphone; much work still needs to be done, after all—even if it is evening. Windows were already wound down, allowing the wind to rush carelessly against the driver's teal hair tinted with the rays of dusk as he stared blankly ahead, still thinking of the work that remains undone in his office. He often found himself starring at the redhead through the side mirrors, though half the time the PA was busy answering calls or messaging on his behalf. Stopping at a local diner, it was only when Grimmjow got out to open the door on his side when the PA looked up from the gadget he held.

"Hungry? C'mon, meal's on me." the man smirked.

* * *

Two burgers and four pints later, still no words were exchaged between them—Grimmjow's patience was wearing thin. Very thin, in fact that he might just shove the cellphone up the berry's lower orifice if he doesn't stop talking to the goddamned devilseed of a device. Ordering another pint of booze, he settled for counting the number of fries in screaming kid's basket at the next table, downing a cup.

The boss was awakened (irritated, as usual) approximately 15 minutes later by the PA, announcing excitedly to him something to the likeness of "beading...Playstation tree...succees" in his sleep-hazed stupor.

"Yeah, whatever. Gotta leave soon...let's go.." he slurred as he left a hundred-dollar bill in the table, and headed towards his car, much sober. He fumbled for his keys for a moment, but quickly retreived them from his pockets, slightly annoyed at the fact that the PA was yet to stop chatting on the phone. Again, he was ignored—for a moment he considered if he DID indeed pile too much work on his PA; but only for a moment; nothing more.

* * *

It was only when Grimmjow finally stopped driving when the assistant realized he was back home. He briefly considered his items still in the office (in addition to his car!) but realized he doesn't need them at home anyway—as for his car, he figured he could carpool with Renji tommorow. As he slowly got up to leave, his arm was grabbed by the much taller man—the cellphone slowly removed from his hand in a manner that surprised him; Grimmjow was anything but gentle, after all.

"Don't leave."

"..."

"You know, Kuro—I mean, Ichi... I uh,..missed you when you were gone"

"..."

"Fuck, this isn't me at all," he chuckled sadly.

"..."

The teal haired man slowly closed their distance—he could feel the man's breath on his suddenly dry lips already—anticipating, but denying somewhat.

He slowly pushed the man away, unable to look into his cerulean eyes.

"...!?"

"Grimm... it's getting late. I'm tired."

"But..!"

"It's over, Grimm... I don't want to be hurt the way you did to me the last time—again."

"..."

"Goodnight, Jeagerjaques-san."

He walked away slowly from the car, unaware of the glaze forming over his eyes.

Grimmjow cursed silently under his breath, driving away feeling like the world's biggest jerk.

* * *

The noisy dischord of his cellphone's ringtone awakened him from his slumber—it was 12.30am.

"Kurosaki. Some jerk ran over my cat this morning and obviously, it's dead. Give it a proper send-off by 9 a.m—And

when I say proper, I expect it how you would your own family. Bye."

* * *

now hit the review thingie down there! GO GO GO or i'll prolong the chapter to smut! ;)


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